Today we had some great discussion on pre and post-training nutrition, fuelling long rides, periodisation for rest vs heavy training days and I did a quick little review of the new-ish YoPRO protein bar.

If you’re a Triathlete that needs help with these foundations, check out my new Triathlon Nutrition course!

I created this video series to cut through all the rubbish that’s out there online and give you evidence-based nutrition advice from a Triathlon Nutrition expert (with over 12 years of experience).

It’s perfect for anyone new to triathlon or even a seasoned athlete that’s never had any sports nutrition advice before. Remember we want to build a pyramid from the bottom up, not the other way around!

With the cooler weather setting in, the cold and flu season is upon us. There’s nothing worse than getting sick, especially right before a key event! Here are our Top Five Tips for looking after your immune system and staying well this winter.

1. Get your 2 fruit and 5 veggie serves in each day

Vitamins and minerals are important for a huge range of reactions within the body such as growth and repair, muscle function, energy metabolism and protection from free radical damage. If we don’t get enough of certain nutrients, our health and performance suffers. It also increases your risk of getting sick. That doesn’t mean you need to start sucking back the multivitamins.

Focus on getting a variety of nutrients each day from fresh fruits and vegetables. The more colours, the better to ensure you’re getting a wide range of important, sickness busting vitamins and minerals.

Keep up your daily dose of 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables during...

Things I commonly see clients suffering with in clinic all the time, unfortunately!

1. Eating the same each day

Unless you train the exact same way each day, you shouldn't eat the same thing each day! Learn how to scale up on big training days and scale back on lighter/rest days.

2. Doing a poor job of recovery nutrition

It's so easy to get right but I commonly see many athletes do a poor job of their recovery! Make some tweaks here and benefit from more energy, less tiredness and fatigue, decreased risk of injury and illness and better bang for your buck out of training!

3. Under-fuelling hard/long sessions

Again so many triathletes avoid or don't know how to fuel their hard/long sessions appropriately. If you bonk on long rides or can't peel yourself off the couch...

Coffee & Questions - 15th May 2020

Now that Coronavirus restrictions are starting to be lifted and group training sessions are kicking off here in QLD, it’s the perfect time to make sure you’ve got your nutrition sorted to maximise training and continue to support your immune system.

Today on Coffee & Questions I run through...

My Top 5 Strategies for Managing your 'Return' to Training

1. Match your Daily Fuelling to your Training Load

It's really important you quickly align your day to day nutrition to your change in training routine to ensure you're eating enough to support your overall energy needs. Just 3 days of not doing a good job of your nutrition is enough to impact your sex hormones and for females, drop a menstrual function for the month.

Appetite is a terrible indicator of your needs so work with a Sports Dietitian if you need help with a day-to-day training meal plan to support you through this phase

2. Get enough protein and ensure...

Coffee & Questions - 8th May 2020

Happy Fri-Yay !!

Today we went a little deep on Coffee & Questions as I tried to channel my Dr Karl to answer Liam's question on lactic acid and Jo's question on Nitrate .

To kick-off, Ben wanted to know if I deliver my cooking! The answer is no... but if anyone is interested in doing some online cooking classes please hola! I ran one during the week for QLD Health's Finance Department and it was a blast! A great way to learn some new skills and get some nutrition education in the current climate.

He also asked what My Top 5 Tips for Weight Loss are but I don't think this is the right focus for right now (sorry Benny ).

So instead, here are my Top 4 Tips for what you should be focusing on to support your overall health and immune system right now (3:00 minutes into the video) :

Now more than ever it’s important to eat well and look after ourselves. As a dietitian, I feel like it's my mission to help you through this crazy time with practical, easy to understand and implement advice, no matter where you are! In the best way I know how – nutrition!

In a world of uncertainty, sometimes it can help to focus on something. Why not use this time wisely to learn and implement some of the foundations of healthy eating?!

So here are My Top 5 Tips for Staying Healthy During Isolationto celebrate the launch of my new online course! Watch the replay from the LIVE recording or read through the summary below

1. Eat Well

A lot of people are stressed about gaining weight at the moment, coming out of this in a bad place and undoing all of their hard work building fitness from the start of the season. But now is not the time to crash diet. Or put too much pressure on ourselves for that matter! It's not the time to put...

Which sports drink has the most electrolytes? Which sports drink has the most sodium? Which sports drink is isotonic? What sports drink has the least sugar? Which sports drink is the best for hydration?

And most importantly, what sports drink is the best choice for optimal performance? Let’s have a look…

What are we looking for in a sports drink?

Ultimately, we’re looking for a product that helps meet our fuelling and hydration needs. Sports drinks should be designed with a combination of different carbohydrates, electrolytes and of course fluid to keep you hydrated and performing at your best. But not all sports drinks are created equal…

Carbohydrate

As a general rule, most sports drinks contain between 6-8% carbohydrate. So, in 100mL of the product (made up to the correct concentration), they contain between 6-8g of carbohydrate. Anything higher can delay the rate your stomach empties which...

We lose water on a daily basis. We exhale water when we breathe, we lose water through our skin as sweat and we excrete water in our urine. Without regularly replacing this fluid we become dehydrated. We can’t train our bodies to adapt to dehydration, unfortunately. It’s not something you can become good at. Even mild dehydration can have noticeable negative effects. Let’s take a look…

1. Fatigue

Perhaps the most noticeable effect of dehydration is a general feeling of fatigue. Being dehydrated is often the cause of headaches or headache-type symptoms such as reduced focus, dizziness, light-headedness, feeling tired and low mood. If you are feeling these effects, try drinking more water before jumping straight to taking painkillers.

2. Mental function

As dehydration increases, mental performance decreases. There is a noticeable impairment in short-term and working memory and our visual-motor function. Dehydration also impacts concentration and the ability to...